Currently the iPod must be mounted on /mnt/ipod before rubypod is started.
To see the songs present on your iPod, go to iPod>Convert Database (Time on a 20GB iPod with 4200 songs : 15 to 20 seconds).
To add songs to the iPod, you must have first added songs to the library by going to Library>Add Directory to library (alternatively you can click with your right mouse button on the library frame).
Once you have done that, edit the songs (or the group of songs by pressing Shift or Ctrl) by clicking on edit. Changing the tag of a single song is pretty straightforward...(Note that the tags are modified even if you do not click on apply). For multiple songs you have to click on a check button first, modify the tag at your will, and click Apply.
The next step is selecting the songs you want to add to the ipod and clicking on Add to iPod....Not too hard isn't it?
To delete songs from the iPod, select the tracks you want to get rid off and click Delete.
Note that at this stage songs are neither physically added nor erased from the iPod : if you think you have made a mistake, just leave rubyPod and everything will be alright!
Also note that tag editing directly on the iPod is not implemented yet : if you want to change a tag of a song on your ipod, copy it somewhere else, load it in the library, change the tag and add it to iPod. Delete teh old song and it should be ok.
You can create playlists by clicking on New Playlist (OOOH! This is so surprising!!!!).
To add songs to a playlist, select a playlist and then songs in the iPod Frame. Click on Add to Playlist : the songs are added at the end of the playlist. If you try adding to a playlist a song that you have added to the iPod in the current session, you will be asked if you want to refresh the iPod : this is because the playlist relies on a ID which is given by gnuPod and newly imported files do not have one. I you press OK the iPod will be physically modified. It can take quite some time (on a 20GB iPod with 4200 songs ~50 seconds) therefore I advise you wisely optimise your session by importing on your iPod all the songs you want and only then taking care of the playlist.
RubyPod does not currently support direct modification of the order of songs in a playlist. It does, however, provide a scramble functionnality, which just shuffles the playlist songs. Keep pressing it until you are satisfied with the result.
Note that at this point the libraries have not been physically modified (except if you have pressed OK when prompted)
This is pretty simple. Launch the application by typing rubypodlite.rb. Go to iPod>Get Database to get the files on the iPod (A GNUPod database must have been previously created with rubyPod Complete or another iPod manager using gnuPod as its backend). Select the songs you want to export and click at the button at the top. Et voila!
It does not do a lot of things but I use it when I lend my iPod to a friend who does not normally have an iPod and does not want to go through the hastle of getting and installing all the required libraries (except ReXML).
A lot of trouble can come from a bad installing of the libraries. Check the error messages for one of the needed libraries listed here. If you cannot find the cause of error, submit a support request on the sourceforge page and I will try to help.
If you have problems with accents, make sure you have installed the Perl module Unicode::String.An additional cause of trouble can come from the support of firewire under Linux. There are many ressources on the web about it but try the Linux iPod HOWTO by Ashish Gehani.
Sometimes you will think the application is not responding anymore when in fact it doesn't : Some operations take time. Deal with it! (I am trying to speed them up a little bit though)